The Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) is supposed to be granted equal access to leaders at such summits alongside the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) under rules of procedure agreed five years ago at an EU-US summit.

This has been the case ever since – until now.

But while TABD representatives have been invited to a meeting at the event between US President George W. Bush, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and European Commission President Romano Prodi, their TACD counterparts were not, prompting them to boycott the two-day summit.

Jim Murray, director of European consumer group BEUC, claimed an initial oversight by the Irish presidency in the planning process was later reinforced by a firm decision from the White House.

No one dared veto the final call from Washington, he added, although the European Commission – which provides more than 50% of the TACD’s annual funding – had lobbied hard to get it back on board.

“The Irish presidency is reducing what should also be a ‘people-to-people’ dialogue to a business deal,” Murray charged. “Relations between the US and the EU should be much more than that.”

But an Irish presidency spokesman denied that there had been any oversight or pressure from the Bush administration.

The TABD were only granted a brief meeting of around ten minutes on Saturday because they had come forward with specific proposals on limiting barriers to transatlantic trade that were requested by EU and US leaders.

“Given that the timeframe is very short and the agenda is very substantial there wasn’t room to schedule another meeting [with the TACD],” he said.

Moreover, he added, the TACD was offered a 45-minute meeting with the senior officials group on Friday – a historic first – as was the TABD, in a bid to maintain parity between the two.

TACD coordinator Ben Wallis, in a letter sent yesterday (23 June) to Irish and US officials, plus the Commission’s external relations directorate, said the move would harm the wider public perception of such summits.

The TACD was invited along with the TABD to a separate meeting at the summit, he added, but was excluded from the symbolically and politically more significant ‘meeting of the presidents’.

Emma Udwin, who is spokeswoman for External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, confirmed that the EU executive was disappointed that the TACD had been excluded from this meeting.

“We value the TACD very highly and we do support it having equitable treatment,” she said. “It has always exhibited very good conduct [at the summits]. We also put a huge value on the TABD and the other dialogues that exist.”

A US Mission to the EU spokesman said: “We had planned a meeting of the TACD with senior US and EU officials. We regret the fact that they have withdrawn.”

The TACD urged leaders at the summit to take action to reduce childhood obesity, protect air travellers’ privacy and “regulate tens of thousands of potentially dangerous industrial chemicals that now escape close scrutiny”, a reference to the EU’s controversial proposed REACH chemicals policy.